Dorsland Toer 2023 - Namaqua Eco Trail, Richtersveld National Park, Southern Namibia

[Lekrom]

So here goes - trip report of our recently completed epic tour.

Vehicles:
1. Myself and my family in our 4.8 petrol Patrol ("Stoffel") and Conqueror Conquest

2. My friend Jean and his family in his 2.0 diesel Amarok (not V6) and Bushlapa Miskruier

Itinerary:
Day 1 - Pretoria to Kakamas (long push) for us, and Cape Town to Springbok for Jean
Day 2 - Start Namaqua Eco Trail, overnight at Ramansdrift
Day 3 - Ramansdrift to Kamgab
Day 4 - Kamgab to Tierhoek (long push)
Day 5 - Tierhoek to Richtersveld National Park, overnight at De Hoop
Day 6 - De Hoop to Kokerboomkloof
Day 7 - Kokerboomkloof
Day 8 - Kokerboomkloof to Alexander Bay, cross border and then to Klein Aus Vista (long push)
Day 9 - Klein Aus Vista (visit Kolmanskop and Luderitz)
Day 10 - Klein Aus Vista to Namibrand Family Hideout
Day 11 - Namibrand Family Hideout
Day 12 - Namibrand Family Hideout
Day 13 - Namibrand to Hobas
Day 14 - Hobas (visit Fish River Canyon)
Day 15 - Hobas to Onseepkans, cross border and then to Augrabies Falls NP
Day 16 - Augrabies Falls National Park
Day 17 - HOME (long push)

Note: we also took along our 15 month old "laatlammetjie" and he was an absolute champ on the trip...

[Lekrom]

I will do detailed day-by-day reports with routes, images and stories...cause I like it that way :)

[Peter Connan]

...cause I like it that way :)

And so do we!
Dankie

[Lekrom]

((click on photos to view at proper resolution))

DAY 1 - Travel from our homes to Kakamas and Springbok...no pics to upload.

I had to "maak 'n plan" just as we were leaving as my vehicle and trailer, both having been checked, serviced etc right before the trip, suddenly decided that they would cause my brake lights fuse to keep blowing out every time I replace it. In the end it was the trailer light socket plug that had a short-circuit and needed to be rewired. We arrived at our accommodation in Kakamas after dark, and crashed to bed, knowing that the next few days will require lots of strength and rest.


DAY 2 - Start of the Namaqua Eco Trail

We had a revised/amended route planned from our initial plan, due to the recent flooding of the Orange river and the resultant effect on roads next to the river along the Namaqua Eco Trail. We shifted our first night from Groot Melkhoutboom to Ramansdrift, and then planned to move to Kamgab for a night, followed by Tierhoek which would place us nicely for our drive up to Sendelingsdrift and De Hoop on the next leg of the trip.

We started early in Kakamas, and I had to fill up my 5 jerry cans for the trial. The 4.8 Patrol engine is an honest one, giving you 4.8km/L most times whether you are towing or not, but now I would be doing mostly 4H and a lot of 4L driving while towing a Conqueror with a full water tank, full jerry cans, lots of stuff on the roof rack...and needed to be prepared fuel-wise as the next fuel stop would be in Sendelingsdrift, 464km after the start of the trail, and ~500km after my last tank top-up at Pofadder.

We met up at the 2nd road veering off the N7, as we would be skipping the section of the trail around Klein-Pella on this trip (we wouldn't make Ramansdrift in time if we were to do this whole section first). Guess we'll have to return to do this part (I am sure we will someday).

Time to say hello to our dear friends who came up from Cape Town, deflate tyres, and start our adventure...

We took what looks like a main-ish gravel road towards the little settlement of Witbank, from where we got onto the proper 4x4 section of the trail...

From here, it was a very enjoyable drive with some dips and climbs on a 4x4 track running parallel to the river but not next to it...could easily do it in 4H (and I would bet you can do it in 2H, but we came all this way to be able to engage in 4 wheel drive, and by golly we were gonna do it )

The track turned towards the river, and took us through some dense thorny growth that grew close enough to the track to give us plenty of scratches. We tried to cut away some branches but as soon as we realised it looked like this for quite a few km we decided to just power through - nobody has time for gardening all day on these trips! At one point we found a real sticky muddy portion, that looked to have been a trap for a vehicle or 2 in the weeks prior...but we made it through without getting stuck.

We made it past Groot Melkhoutboom and turned away from the river again as we had to go around the mountains to get to Ramansdrift, our campsite for the night. This was probably my favourite drive of the day, with beautiful vistas, the changing colours of the late afternoon sun on the rocky terrain, and a last stretch of wide open plains where we could push on a bit faster and get some wind in our hair.

We reached Ramansdrift - but despite watching many Youtube videos of other people's trips, the campsite looked fairly different than expected because of the flooding that occurred during 2022 and early 2023. We opted to camp higher up as the water level was covering the nice grassy patch people seem to prefer next to the river. It still was a great view for our first camp, and it felt like we finally arrived somewhere really off-the-grid and in the wilds, despite the herd of cattle that hung around where we were setting up camp. Dinner was quickly prepared - ostrich burgers over the fire, with lots of trimmings. We then found time for a quick swim in the river, and found a way to give our little guy a bath with a proper view...

Dinner was complemented by a very good white wine and a dram of peaty whisky as the stars shone magnificently overhead...

[Jorrie]

Mooi verslag Morkel, dankie!

[Lekrom]

Carrying on...apologies for the delay

Day 3:
We didn't have very far to go today, but it would be a tough trail down to Kamgab with the trailers, based on my research and study of YT videos...
On these trips I like to be up before sunrise and experience the sunrise, and this morning was no different.

As soon as everyone was up, it was time to make breakfast...

We packed up camp and headed out towards the trail again. We skipped the portion going past Goodhouse and the pump station, as feedback we received was that it was at the time still very muddy there.
The route we did take took us through some really spectacular valleys...

There are some signs showing you which general direction to go in, but there are often multiple tracks leading off into that direction. We often split up to not be in each other's dust and to try and use less corrugated portions.

We eventually turned into the Oerknoep riverbed, which takes you down to the Kamgab wild-camping area. This is a really nice drive, with rock-steps and obstacles which are probably much easier without the camping trailers, but would still be fun nonetheless. It's slow going, with a spotter checking lines and trailer hitch height etc. It does end up in a bit of a sandy stretch that helps you progress a little faster at the end of the section.

It was my dinner turn, and I intended to make a lovely Trinchado potjie, which meant I needed to get to work right away (camp was set up around 15h00)...

Happy to say that the meal was a resounding success...accompanied by Guiness and some good red wine.

We rested well and went to bed early, knowing the next day would be a LONG drive across multiple passes to reach Eksteenfontein and Tierhoek campsite...

[Lekrom]

Gaia GPS stats for Day 2:

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Gaia GPS stats for Day 3:

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